Kraft A. Ehricke, of Space Global Co., La Jolla, California, in a paper entitled “Lunetta System Analysis” described the advantages of delivering solar energy to the Earth’s surface by direct reflection from large orbiting mirrors in low earth orbit, the 3 to 6 h orbit range. He said the diameter of the received image would be 1% of the orbit height and that illumination could be provided equalling 5 to 100 full moons for alleviating night frosts, drying crops, stabilizing temperatures, generating wind, modulating rain, and desalting seawater, with no environmentally damaging effects. Dr. Jerry Gray then read a paper by M. Pospisil, L. Pospisilova, Z. Hanzelka, and M. Prochazka of Czechoslovakia on an "Experimental Compact Space Power Station.” The concept involves flat, parabolic, or modified parabolic collectors rigidly fixed to the microwave transmitting antenna. The sun would shine on only a part of the collector at a time as it circles in orbit. Hence it would be less efficient. A 20 mW sattelite could, however, be put into orbit using M. Pospisil’s concept with 16 flights of the shuttle, and might be used to power a small city or serve as a demonstration. W. Westphal, of the Technical University of Berlin, presented a paper entitled “Space Manufacturing in the Construction of Solar Power Satellites—A Model for Energy Budget and Cost Calculations” in which he compares the options of manufacturing parts for an SPS on earth and assembling it in space, manufacturing the parts in space from terrestrial materials, and manufacturing the satellite in space using materials from the Moon. He concluded that space manufacturing becomes increasingly attractive as energy costs go up. M.J. Claverie presented an update on a study he and A.P. Dupas had reported at the XXXth IAF Congress in Munich in 1979 in which they analyzed world electricity demand, population, and available land area. They concluded that 70% of the world’s population live in areas with a population of more than 100 persons per square kilometer, and so would have no land area available for SPS receiving antennas. They suggested offshore receiving antennas for Europe and smaller systems for countries like Portugal with low electrical demand. Equinoctial eclipses of the power satellites could be a serious problem for some countries, although others, like the U.S., with large peaking and backup power could handle them. Dr. S. Gorove, a professor of law at the University of Mississippi, spoke on “Internationalization of the SPS: An Evaluation of Some U.S. Policy Alternatives.” He urged international cooperation, believing this would speed up rather than retard the development of solar power satellites, and maintained that such cooperation would be enlightened self-interest. He suggested that the UN General Assembly, the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the International Telegraphic Union, the European Space Agency (ESA), related bodies, regional agreements, and all other avenues of international cooperation be employed. F.H. Osborn, Jr., Executive Secretary of SUNSAT Energy Council, spoke on “Opening the Space Frontier — Societal Aspects of Solar Power Satellites.” He compared the space frontier with frontiers in Alaska, the U.S. Midwest, precolonial New England, and the emergence of amphibians from the seas onto the land in the carboniferous period, concluding that the space frontier has required fewer hours of labor to open it than most frontiers and has paid a more rapid return on its investment. Solar power satellites, he said, should provide the next major product, energy, to follow on the success of the communications satellites. He concluded that technical and environmental problems have been largely solved, but problems of motivation and leadership remain. Alden M. Richards of Corroon and Black, insurance underwriters, Washington, DC, in a paper entitled “International Insurance Corporation and the Satellite Power System” reviewed the growth of insurance underwriting of space ventures. Insur-
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